Morocco offers to mediate in Gulf crisis

CAIRO – 13 November 2017: King Mohammed VI of Morocco offers to mediate in order to resolve the unprecedented Gulf crisis during his visit to Qatar. Moroccan mediation started on Sunday, according to Sputnik News agency.

King Mohammed arrived in Qatar on Sunday as a part of his Gulf tour to discuss the latest international and Arab developments in the region. The discussions especially tackled the Gulf crisis after a four-day visit to the United Arab Emirates. It was the first time that King Mohammed visited the Gulf region since the boycott.

Although Morocco is strongly associated with the Gulf countries, Rabat favors constructive neutrality in the crisis and has been careful not to issue any hasty public statements.

Since the beginning of the crisis in June, Morocco has declared that it feels intimately concerned about the crisis. Morocco called on all parties to be wise and to reduce tension, overcome this crisis and finally settle the causes that led to this.

“Morocco aims to support the stability in all countries for the Gulf Cooperation Council to keep its privileged position,” mentioned the statement released by the Moroccan Foreign Ministry in July.

The statement also referred that Morocco is ready to exert efforts to encourage an inclusive dialogue focusing on the noninterference in the interior affairs and combating extremism.

Other foreign mediations

Several countries since the beginning of the boycott have been trying to mediate the crisis, solve it, and defuse the tension.

On June 5, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen decided to cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar, hurling allegations that the state supports terrorism. Ports and airspaces were cut off to Qatari vessels. Since then, Kuwait has played a role of mediator to put an end to this rift. Also, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held several meetings with the disputed parties to heal the rift, but the discussions reached a stalemate.

In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump declared in September his willingness to step in and mediate the worst dispute in decades among the U.S.-allied Arab states and Qatar.

Besides, France declared that Paris wants to assist a Kuwait-led mediation on the crisis between Qatar and four other Arab states. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drain held talks in Qatar and Saudi Arabia in July.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also paid a visit in July to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar to wade deeper in the Gulf crisis and to declare his willingness to contribute in solving the crisis.

Ankara has been a strong ally to Qatar since it was isolated by the four nations. Turkey has shipped it food and expanded its military presence. However, Turkish mediation was excluded because of the unwavering, expanded support it has extended to Doha and due to its position on the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Despite all the diplomatic efforts to end the crisis, a solution has not been reached yet and the crisis is still ongoing without a quick fix to the spat. The Gulf States need a clear signal that Qatar is willing to reexamine its position regarding extremism and terrorism.